Samsung Smart TV Behavior

[muratpak 1]

I've checked emby from the appstore, it was not there yet, here. Then I've realized it's only for US OK and Ireland for now. I can wait for a global release!

 

However, there is an interesting behavior I didn't come across in PLEX or other media servers before..

 

On Samsung TV, I see emby listed in inputs (where HDMI's and USB's are listed) and when I open emby through there, even without the app, I can still go through all of my media in a folder structure which looks pretty similar to what samsung displays when a USB disk is connected.  This is an interesting behavior!

 

I wanted to ask what exactly this is - the information might be useful for me in general.

 

Also I would love to know if it's possible to change the icon/image and naming ("emby-ComputerName") that appears there on the menu selection.

 

:]

 

[Luke 42078]

That is the Samsung DLNA browser. It is just a generic presentation controlled by Samsung. That's not a whole lot of customization that can be done.

 

The server icon is something we could expose for configuration in a future release. thanks.

[muratpak 1]

Would be very nice to have some configuration over the naming and the icon!

What/how does it connect to emby? Is emby serving a network disk? Would it be the same behavior for a generic network disk (I havent seen this before in my tv, even though I have many network enabled drives)

 

I've also noticed a similar behavior where emby seems like a network drive with dynamic folder structure. However, I was able to play none of the listed files through media player variations and vlc. 

[Luke 42078]

It's using the dlna protocol. The reason why it might not play well with some dlna viewers is because it needs to be tested individually with every single one that we want to support. It's easier to just use the emby app.

[OddbOd 21]

To answer your questions in a simple manner is difficult, what I say below might even come across as dismissive or even deliberately unhelpful. I can only say, that is not my intention.
 
For now it's probably better for you to think of the Emby server as a go-between that standardizes your media and associated metadata for the purpose of allowing these things  to be understood by a wide range of playback devices.
 

However, there is an interesting behavior I didn't come across in PLEX or other media servers before..

Plex definitely supports this (DLNA UPnP AV Server) and has done so since 2012, it's documented here. Maybe you just never turned it on.
 

On Samsung TV, I see emby listed in inputs (where HDMI's and USB's are listed) and when I open emby through there, even without the app, I can still go through all of my media in a folder structure which looks pretty similar to what samsung displays when a USB disk is connected.  This is an interesting behavior!

Samsung's design is intended to provide consistency between different media sources, which works well with the examples you mentioned. However there is an inherent lack of flexibility, for example presenting the contents of a broadcast TV channel or BluRay in this same style wouldn't work at all despite the fact it's all just video.
 

What/how does it connect to emby?

Emby acts as a UPnP AV media server, the TV acts as a Media Renderer and usually a Control Point, to use DLNA's terminology. Defining how it operates precisely is not something that can be summarised easily due to the complexity of the underlying standards.
 

Is emby serving a network disk?

No, at least not in the way you seem to be thinking of. Emby is serving the contents of it's media library, that's all. Part of the point of Emby is that it provides a consistent user interface to your media files regardless of where they're actually stored.
 

Would it be the same behavior for a generic network disk (I havent seen this before in my tv, even though I have many network enabled drives)

Again, not in the way you seem to be thinking of. Sharing files over a network can be done via a number of different protocols each with their own strengths and weaknesses. 
The Emby client applications avoid this lack of support by (mostly) using the HTTP protocol to both communicate with the server and receive data from it. The TV itself has support for the DLNA protocol built-in but not the protocols normally used by Windows, OS X and Linux to share files.